Apologies for the late update. Times have been hectic with school and such, the usual culprits.

Now, onto a couple notes that I forgot to add before.

1. Just in case you didn't know, Donut is alive. It was on the sponsor's edition when they disabled recovery mode.

2. Martienne: Yeah, I took that into consideration when I was writing it. Someone's got to be a pissed off pseudo-leader (though I would think Wash, with the most experience, would be the actual leader).

3. The good dr: Things are about to get much more difficult. ;)

…...

Wash stared at the comatose female. Shit. He remembered this chick. The was the stupid girl who was yelling at him at Blood Gulch. The one who called him a cop. The one with the raving insanity.

Let's go over this, he thought to himself. I have eight people to manage, each whom have minimal actual military experience. Each of whom are going to face every last recovery agent and God knows what else. Yep, Washington thought, we're fucked.

…...

Penn loaded his assault rifle. He glanced up at the screen, which had the Chairman's digitally distorted face displayed on it.

"So all we have to do is tag and bag Wash? And we're free?" He looked over his fellow freelancers. Okie, as he liked to be called, was giving his flamethrower a tune-up. Jesus, you can practically see the maniacal grin on his face.

"Yes, but before that you will need to pay a visit to Project Freelancer's Offsite Storage Facility. From there you'll be able to reacquire your armor enhancements, and the remaining Freelancer simulation soldiers and Recovery agents will be en route there as well. They have been given explicit instructions to follow your orders." The frown on his face was evident, even through the distortion. He was not happy about sending any Freelancer out into the world. The moon had cost a couple hundred trillion dollars, which the Director insisted would be well spent on winning the war. But as it turned out, the Director was less concerned with fighting off the Covenant and more concerned with reviving a memory, one of the many reasons the Chairman wondered why military operations were still going on here.

But the last thing the Chairman needed were the Freelancers, with their various psychological problems, running around causing havoc.

"What about me?" The voice came from the back of the room, in a dark cell. It sounded as it the person hadn't spoken in a long time.

The Chairman's camera zoomed in, allowing him to see the figure in the dark.

"Ah, Agent Carolina, I was not aware you were with us. Our last record of you indicates you were KIA."

"Funny how much you rely on paperwork, considering that you regularly distort it."

The Chairman huffed. "Regardless, I doubt that you are psychologically ready for a mission. Having more than one AI in your head can be quite…taxing, can it not?"

Carolina narrowed here eyes. "I'm over it." She said bluntly, though the venom in her voice was evident. "Besides, it looks like you're going to need all the help you can get."

"I believe I need a professional opinion. Agent Indiana, you were trained in interrogation techniques and psychoanalysis, correct? What is your analysis?"

Indy looked up, as if he were being snapped out of sleep. "Huh? Oh, Lina? She's cool, I guess." He glanced over to her, smiling underneath his helmet.

"You guess, Indiana?"

"Look," Carolina interceded, "We can sit here and debate my sanity all day, or we can get busy tracking down the rogue agent that you set loose. What's it gonna be?" She stared up at the screen defiantly.

The Chairman sighed. Letting her go along could prove dangerous. Hell, letting any of them outside of the prison was well beyond any definiton of safe. "Very well, get prepped. I expect you all at the Offsite Storage Facility at 15 hundred hours." And with that, the screen shut down.

Lina turned to Indy. "Why'd you stick your neck out for me? I barely even know you."

Indy shrugged. "Because I know you can't be trusted, and having you along might make this a bit more fun." He returned to polishing his giant hammer-ish weapon. This would be amusing.

…...

Sister's vision cleared. She blinked, looking through her cracked visor to see a strange amalgam of colors. Or too her, they seemed like a bunch of shades of grey. Same difference.

Understandably, her first word was "Owww…".

A distraught, panicky voice spoke. "Doc, is she okay? Is she breathing? She's not bleeding? O God, if she is pregnant again I'll kill her!"

She hopped up, and in one swift motion punched her brother in the face. "You calling me a slut, bitch?"

Sarge chuckled. "Hot damn woman. I might make a soldier out of you yet. And Grif! Your weak-ass baby sister just punched you in the face. I didn't think my disappointment in you could sink any lower than it was!"

Grif got up, nursing the newly formed goose-egg on his head. "How're you even alive, Lopez said he killed you!"

Sister shrugged, "All he did was throw a grenade in blue base. Then he packed up and left. To bad too. He had a nice, big, robot-"

Grif raised his hands apprehensively, "That's all I need to hear."

While Simmons made a mental note to check the computers in the caves as soon as possible, Wash decided to intervene.

"This reunion is touching and all, but we have to get moving. Like, now."

Sister looked at Wash and cocked her head. "Have we met before?"

Wash thought over his next words very carefully. "No, no we haven't. Caboose, fill her in on the situation. Caboose?" The blue soldier was gone. "God dammit, where does he go off to?"

"I'm right here." Caboose walked peaked his head out of red base's interior. "And my people would like to talk to your people Agent Washington."

Wash assumed that meant Caboose wanted him inside. "You guys get ready to move in 5 minutes. I'll be right back."

Doc looked at Sister. "So… you need another physical?"

"Fuck off, pig."

An awkward silence ensued. "Soo," Doc decided to break the silence, "How'd you get comatose and wind up here."

"Don't even get me started."

…...

"Greetings Agent Washington."

Washington looked at the computer monitor that was speaking to him. My life is so fucked up. "Oh. Hey…there…Sheila."

"Lopez and myself have been monitoring Caboose's vitals, and we have come to the conclusion that his psyche is not functioning at its normal capacity."

"Well no shit. If that's all you have to say, then I'll be going. People are trying to kill me again, so its kind oh important that I leave."

"By that, we mean he is not alone inside his head. We believe one of the many artificial intelligence units he has shared his mind with may…" The computer's eerily cheery voice seemed unsure, "have left something behind. We believe Lopez and I may be able to bring it back."

Then, all three of you could be inside my head. It would be like a sleepover, except in my head, we would never have to run out of snack-cakes!"

"Apologies Caboose, but Lopez and I will not be able to accompany you on this mission. The process would involve transferring all our electrical power to Caboose's helmet-to-brain interface, and then wiping this hard drive clean."

"This isn't happening." Wash stated bluntly.

"Agent Washington, if I understand correctly, you are out of options. You will need as many resources as you can get."

Wash remained silent. "I'll let you do it. But be careful! We don't need Caboose's head messed up more than it already is."

"Affirmative." Shiela stated as Caboose plugged her into his helmet.

"And if you bring back Omega, or the Alpha, I swear-"

"Hey, amigo, no estoy contento con esto o-" Lopez never got to finish his sentence. The monitor went blank, and Caboose's helmet cackled with electricity.

Caboose giggled "My hair is all staticky!"

A green glow then emanated next to Caboose's helmet. If Wash's helmet didn't prevent it from doing so, his jaw would have hit the floor. And if the AI could have smiled, Delta would have.

"Hello, David."

…...

Okay, I lied, things may have gotten a bit easier! :P

A couple more notes

-Yes, I brought back two characters two chapters in a row. I break all the rules.

-Delta PWNS

-Why'd I kill off Shiela and Lopez in one fell swoop? Because there really wasn't anything I could do with them, and Delta is such an interesting character I just felt like I had to.

-I apologize for my writing being a bit awkward. Its my first fic and whatnot, so, yeah.

-This was just to set the stage. From here on its gonna be styled like a bunch of inter-connected one-shots, interrupted by the occasional action scene and plot development.

So there ya have. Review!